Description

Saint Catherine lived in Alexandria and came from a royal family. Her wisdom and education fit harmoniously with her morals and modesty causing admiration to people. Saint Catherine refused to sacrifice to idols, while in the rhetorical struggles of Alexandria, the Emperor made her compete with the 50 best orators and she not only managed to win them but she also persuaded them to become Christians. The Greek Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy and glorious great-martyr Catherine of Alexandreia on November 25, when according to the tradition she was put to death for her religious convictions while the angels carried her body to the Sinai Peninsula.

The wheel, the books, the formal outfit, the crown and the phoenix depicted in this hagiography refer to all these elements of her life that we mentioned before: her suffering, education, her origin and life-example which proves that we are capable of changing the world if we have power in our soul and not necessarily in our body.

This icon has been crafted in the Byzantine hagiography workshop of father Peukis, with fidelity to the original, on canvas against a gold leaf background and a sense of responsibility in order to create an icon according to our devotional tradition and the principles of the Athonite hagiography. Father Peukis has studied in the Athonite academy on Mount Athos where he excelled near major Athonite hagiographers.